Joseph P. Bluck

About

I am a current third year DPhil student with an interest in
using in silico tools to aid inhibitor candidate optimisation,
searching for increased potency and selectivity. Through synthesis of my
predicated candidate modifications, I am experimentally validating my methods in an exciting
and medicinally relevant project.

This exciting project finds me combining the expertise of multiple departments; Under the shared supervision of Prof.
Stuart J. Conway in the Department of Chemistry, Prof.
Philip Biggin in the Department of Biochemistry, and Prof. Garrett Morris, from the Oxford Protein
Informatics Group (OPIG).
Through the SABS DTC Industrial Collaboration, I am very lucky to
also be supervised by Dr. Philip G. Humphreys from GSK.

Background

DPhil, University of Oxford

(2015 - )

Through the Systems Approaches to Biomedical Sciences
Centre for Doctoral Training (SABS CDT).

MChem, University of Oxford

Research

With our increased understanding of the role epigenetics play in various diseases,
finding small molecule inhibitors is proving vital in our probing of the complex epigenetic
regulation networks. I am looking at using in silico free energy calculations to direct inhibitor
optimisation. This methodology will be applied to various bromodomains within family VII, to
investigate how the method can be used to increase affinity and selectivity of known binders.
This project will also find me in the lab, making the computationally optimised compounds as a
means of validating the technique and hopefully developing novel inhibitors.